OK, now we’ve cleared up those waifs and strays let’s get back on track…I’d like to talk to you about the letter T…

The Teardrop Explodes are one branch that grew out of legendary Liverpool band The Crucial Three. That brief supergroup, before any of them were famous, consisted of Liverpool natives Ian McCulloch and Pete Wylie along with a student from Tamworth in the Midlands, Julian Cope. Just those 3 ego’s in the same room must have been trouble. The one song that I know came out of that formidable trio is “Books”, as it is titled on this album, or “Read It In Books” as it was on the B-side of Echo & The Bunnymen’s 1979 single “Pictures On My Wall”. There are stylistic threads twixt the Bunnymen and the Teardrops, hints of sixties psychedelia and Scott Walker about both, but nothing that would make you think they sounded just like each other.

The Teardrop Explodes, the name was taken from a caption on a panel in the Marvel comic Daredevil (#77), formed around Cope and drummer Gary Dwyer. They very quickly came to the attention of Zoo Records, a Liverpool Indie run by Dave Balfe (who joined the band on keyboards) and another mighty ego, Bill Drummond (KLF and all that malarkey). Three singles were released on Zoo, “Sleeping Gas”, “Bouncing Babies” (which inspired the tribute single “I Can’t Get Bouncing Babies By The Teardrop Explodes” by The Freshies telling of the difficulty in trying to obtain a copy) and “Treason”. All three appear on “Kilimanjaro”, the first two in re-recorded form and the latter as it was released in the single and that was the first thing I heard by the Teardrop Explodes, beginning a 5 decade long (!!!) fascination with Julian Cope.

“Treason” is 3 minutes of jangly pop perfection driven along by Balfe’s whiny keyboards and Cope’s singa -longa Julian chorus. New record company Mercury weren’t stupid, they re-issued it as the Teardrops third single for them and were rewarded with a Top 20 hit (#18 in May 1981). This was their 2nd hit as earlier in 1981 “Reward” had hit the dizzy heights of #6 in the UK chart, Cope’s opening line of “Bless my cotton socks I’m in the news” proving quite prophetic. Driven on by Balfe’s relentless drumming and a frantic horn section “Reward” proved a dancefloor filler across the land. Surprisingly it’s not on the original release of “Kilimanjaro” but was shoehorned onto the 1981 re-issue.

Me and my dear old friend Mick saw the Teardrop Explodes at Birmingham Odeon in the summer of 1981, right between the release of “Kilimanjaro” and their next album “Wilder”. It’s one that has stuck with me. It was a warm day (you could rely on summer days back then) and Julian Cope spent the entire gig swathed in his rather impressive WWII brown leather, sheepskin lined fighter pilots jacket, he must have been melting ! They were bloody great too…

Over their 2 albums the Teardrop Explodes enjoyed a very brief moment in the sun as proper pop stars but it wasn’t to last. Fall outs, musical differences and most likely drugs put a very quick end to them and Cope went on to forge his own way, making some mighty fine if slightly wacky records along the way.

Books - https://youtu.be/cl0IM1biOKM?si=AMRcuS2R1C7_ZTwB

You may recall I’m something of an admirer of the angelically voiced Emmylou Harris. It came to my attention some months  ago that a duo known as First Aid Kit had released a song called “Emmylou”. I had a listen, liked it, made a mental note to look into them some more and promptly forgot to. Then one recent sunny Sunday afternoon in the pub (all the best things happen at the pub, right ?) one of our number was playing some tunes in the beer garden through a Bluetooth speaker when some voices and a tune caught my ear. On enquiring as to its source I was told it was First Aid Kit singing “My Silver Lining”. Remembering my previous mental note to discover more about them I went straight online and ordered this album on which said song  features as the all important track 1 side 1.

First Aid Kit are two singing sisters, Johanna and Klara Söderberg, who sing “Country” music. And so the clue to their unique selling point lies in their names, for Johanna and Klara are singing sisters from Sweden who sing “Country” music…I’ve put “Country” in quote markes as it’s Country Jim, but not as we know it, filtered through Swedish Folk and pop music and Country Rock. Their Dad, Benkt Söderberg, was a member of successful Swedish rock/pop group Lolita Pop, imagine Roxette but Swedish with song titles like “Tarzan On A Big Red Scooter” ! The sisters discovered Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons in their mid-teens and it had quite the effect on them both. They harmonise beautifully with voices that are harsher than the sweetness of Emmylou, it is however a beguiling sound their two voices create together.

“Stay Gold” was their 3rd album, originally released in 2014. It’s very much influenced by the Emmylou Harris of “Wrecking Ball” and “Red Dirt Girl”, it’s country music alright but this ain’t stories of Cowboys and Trucks and Rodeo’s. I guess it is what was known for a while as alt.country, the basics of the style are there with great harmony singing, lap steel guitars etc. but the lyrics mention New York and Chicago which really isn’t Country territory. Standout songs include the already mentioned “Silver Lining”, “Cedar Lane”, “The Bell” and “Waitress Song”. I promise I will now listen deeper into their releases (5 albums so far) so you might well encounter them on here again in the future.

My Silver Lining - https://youtu.be/DKL4X0PZz7M?si=kB3JqLjJDxdQH-JM

We covered Beagle’s first album, “Sound On Sound”, back in February (https://www.whiterabbitrecords.co.uk/blog/read_205380/20234-albums-thing-265-beagle-sound-on-sound.html) and here’s their second. Beagle were a Swedish alt.pop band formed in Lund in the early 90’s is the short intro. I got hooked thanx to mix tapes/CD’s swapped twixt a group of friends across the globe.

Great pop songs in a style not a million miles different to that record “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” but so much, MUCH better than that, is where they are at. “Nothing Counts For More”, “When I Speak Your Name”, “It Ain’t You”, “Hills And Valleys” and particularly the rollicking “Nine Out Of Ten” are all joyous pop singalongs played on acoustics, mandolins, banjos and screeching harmonicas (there’s electric instruments too).

As non-native English speakers there are some delightfully odd rhymes in the lyrics (try “I walked the streets up to her house, Every garden, now well most, Has a holder, carrying com-post” !) but you forgive them that for the quality of the songs. Same applies as back in February, Beagle always put a smile on my face when I hear them and that can’t be a bad thing.

Nine Out Of Ten - https://youtu.be/zXuZN-6kJbo?si=U4NTxuj15P2SM6gK